The Future of Consumerist

Over the last twelve years, Consumerist has been a steadfast proponent and voice on behalf of consumers, from exposing shady practices by secretive cable companies to pushing for action against dodgy payday lenders. Now, we’re joining forces with Consumer Reports, our parent organization, to cultivate the next generation of consumer advocacy.

Stay tuned as Consumerist’s current and future content finds its home as a part of the Consumer Reports brand. In the meantime, you can access existing Consumerist content below, and we encourage you to visit Consumer Reports to read the latest consumer news.

RCN knows some of you aren’t going to be happy with having your fees increased, especially in such a tight economy. They know that some of you will probably decide enough is enough and call them to request an account downgrade. They’re going to make money off of that, too.

Michael writes:

Got this in the mail. The other side of it is meant to look like a generic ad listing all their channels—they probably were hoping most people would ignore it and throw it out. However if you look closely they will now charge you $5 for the privilege of downgrading your service, which, according to their rep is a “processing fee.”

Given that this is occurring at the same time as they are hiking rates across the board and removing channels (like Nick West) to bundle into premium-priced packages, my guess is they are trying to make money off of the people who will inevitably be pissed at the rate hike and seek to downgrade their services once they go into effect.

Gotta love the continued nickel and diming. At least they still offer the best internet access in Chicago in terms of service…no transfer caps, no throttling (that I’m aware of). I feel like I’m picking between the lesser of two evils though.